Limitless
by Heavenian
Summary: When assassins strike and nearly succeeded in claiming Elsa's life, the royal palace was in uproar. The guards were tripled overnight, and the fortifications renewed. Elsa had known that this day would come, with all those paranoid rulers out there meant that this would not be the last attempt. She decided that she needed to do something about it, by making it a bit harder for them
1. Chapter 1

That recent attempt on Elsa's life ended in quite a mess, and might have worked if not for Olaf accidentally scaring the living heck out of the would be assassins.

They had evaded most of the guards, and had silently slaughtered those who noticed them. Out side Elsa's royal bedroom, standing in the blood of the mangled guards, were the three assassins, shrouded in shadow of the lunar eclipse.

Silently, one inserted the key he got from the corpses of the dead guards around him. _Chikk ._ The key fits, and the assassin turned the key. _Chikk! _The lock snaps open.

The second assassin quietly pushed open the door, the well oiled hinges making no sound at all. Through the gap of the door and the doorframe, he could see the queens bed, though with the shadows and assorted jumbling pillows, he can't see whether the queen was actually there. The ice making up of the floor let out an ethereal glow, slightly shining. He cursed silently. Ideally, they would have shot the queen with their crossbows and be done with it, but the cursed pillows had obstructed their sight. And with this icy, glowing floor, it would be impossible to evade detection if she woke up.

Well hell with it!

The second assassin pushed the door a bit further, and he and his brother in harms (literally)slipped in like wraiths.

The first assassin approached the bed, his footsteps making as much noise as a feather falling on fresh snow. Now, next to the bed, he peered down. The queen was there alright, slumbering in her bed, totally oblivious of the fatality standing next to her. The assassin had no remorse, nothing against killing the young, weak or girls. Particularly if she is all three. To him and his brothers, who followed the code of their creed, death was just a part of life. Killing was just cutting it short, sending them to the great beyond. The assassins wrinkled their noses. The room reeked of perfumes, and their sensitive, corrupted noses were having trouble with the smell.

Silently, next to Elsa, the assassin said a silent prayer to the god of death, as the custom to respect thier chosen contract of blood. He raised his dagger, and prepared to deliver the killing blow.

"Hello!" a voice suddenly rang out cheerfully from the shadows.

The assassin and his 'brother' looked around in shock, trying to locate the source of the voice. They had scoured the room, every possible place. There was no way anything could slip pass them.

From the shadows next to the bed, a small figure stepped out and said, "Hello! I'm Olaf and I love warm hugs!"

It was a snowman. A _living, TALKING SNOWMAN._

Forgetting all protocols, the third assassin send an arrow through it, the sound muffled by the snow.

"Oh! What have you done? Look! You impaled me!" the snowman complained.

The form on the bed stirred and sat up and mumbled, "Olaf, what was that about?"

The first assassin swore and trust his poisoned dagger at the queen, but he missed by inches as she rolled out of the bed.

The snowman cried out loud, "Intruders! ATTACK!" and threw himself at the first assassin.

The assassins cursed again and flung the snowman off. He looked for the queen and found out that she was standing, with two glowing whirling spheres of frost in her palm.

And the sound of wind and blinding light was the last thing he saw or heard.


	2. Advises

"My queen, we are unable to trace where the assassins came from or who they serve. After you unfreeze them, they promptly committed suicide. Our coroner could not find out the source of death, though we highly suspected self poisoning," The guard master said.

"Hmm." Elsa was not impressed, and this trip to the barracks was proving fruitless. The guard master was a middle-aged, bear-like man, had a hairy face and was full of weariness.

"From what we know, these assassins are experts. They had somehow breached our defence, went through all our guards and choke points, and all our dead showed no resistance at all, all killed with a single strike.

"My Queen, someone out there seriously want you dead," he concluded.

"Plenty of them would, considering my status and my powers. I had expected this, but to be so close..." Elsa bit her lips. Really. Other then the expected assassinations, some even asked her hand in marriage, princes and nobles that they had never even heard of. And of corse, Elsa had rejected them all with impunity.

"We had tripled the guards, and stopped all ships and transport out or in the city and completely changed the guard schedule. But the thing that worries me most was of betrayal."

"Betrayal?"

"Yes. Betrayal. On the bodies, except an arsenal of weapons, a target sheet, various poisons, we found a detailed schedule of guard paths and changing time, complete with a map. I suspected that these were provided by someone inside our castle."

"Then, it could be anyone."

"Well, not every one. The guards do not have the schedule of other guards, the servant... Well unless the one that conducted the assassination had several months to gather informations about the castle. But to your point, yes, it could be anyone. Even me."

Elsa pondered on this for a while, and said, "Tell the guards to keep an eye out for any dodgy characters about, even other fellow guards."

"It was already done, your majesty."

"So, were there anymore to discuss?"

"Permission to speak freely, my Queen?"

"Granted."

"My queen, I might be relatively new at my post (since the last guard master perished in battle with some bandits), but I beg you to trust my judgement, _you are vulnerable."_

"What do you mean, vulnerable?"

"My Queen, forgive me if I cause offence, to say that you are vulnerable. I do not mean that you are weak, but what I meant is that you are not battle ready."

"Battle ready, guard master?"

"Yes, my Queen. As the guard master, I was sworn by my life to keep you safe in anyway possible with in my abilities. So, hereby I urge you to practice your magic."

Elsa opened her mouth to object, but was cut short by the guard master, "My Queen, I understand of your disapproval, especially after last summers'... Fiasco."

Elsa gestured at him to continue.

"My Queen, consider this: you were gifted with magic, and other rulers out there were getting rather ... Paranoid."

Elsa nodded, this she could understand well, particularly after the Weasel Town treatment she got last year. He actually tried to have her killed_! _Not that it was any surprise, considering that she was a young, secluded and brooding magical princess with a strong kingdom.

"As I was saying, this would not be the last attempt on your life. Your magic, my Queen, it was both feared by your could-be enemies and also your greatest prowess."

Elsa tsked in disapproval and said. "That's not right. I am fine in diplomatics."

"Again, forgive me to say this: My Queen, you are still far away from mastery. Truly, Kai was the backbone of all the trading, arranging and so. With out him, our stocks would have had fallen long ago. Good thing that he is very loyal, at least we think so. Magic, my Queen, was the thing about your royalness that makes enemies quell. Thats why you get more proposals than assassinations and war."

"Sometimes I think that I would prefer war..." Elsa muttered darky.

The guard master looked horror-struck, and grimaced, "This I can promise you that you would regret. Back to our topic: my Queen, please at least consider my advise."

"Very well then. What would you suggest me to do?" Elsa gave in.

The guard master looked relieved and said," My Queen, I would suggest you to practice magic more, both offensive, defensive and other ways such as ice building and refining your control over ice, trying to figure out and expand your limit. Other than that, I would also suggest you to train with normal weapons and do exercise to strengthen yourself physically. I am sure that the general or the admiral would be happy to give you lessons."

Elsa took it all in silently and considered it. She would enjoy the ice part, but the physical training... Well, just imagining it already make Elsa's underused muscles ache.

"Very well, I shall conduct daily sessions of training." Elsa said, after a while, "Is there anything else?"

The guard master smiled and said," My Queen, maybe today you should rest instead, you look terrible. And you should probably eat your lunch. It's half past twelve now."

Elsa glanced at the clock on the wall and cursed silently. During the flurry of activities in the morning, she had totally lost track of time, staying up all night and missing her breakfast, and she just realises how floaty and starving she felt and she hadn't even properly talked with Anna yet. She must be worried sick.

Elsa smiled tiredly back at the guard master and said,"That, I would be obliged."

**~(Somewhat later, skipping tons of awkward conversations)~**

"Really, you are going to actually train?" Anna asked, bewilded.

"Yes, Anna, I am." Elsa answered for the fifth time at lunch, sitting at the dining hall with Anna and Kristoff.

"Unbelievable." Kristoff said, and received a glare from Elsa. The perks of dining with Kristoff is that they get to speak causally, instead of talking like a peacock, having to colour and disguise your every word. The down side... Well, that would be his slightly sarcastic yet refreshing tone of speaking.

"So, Elsa, how are you going to do it?" Anna asked

"For now, I really don't know. He said to exercise both offensive and anything I can think off..." Came the reply.

"For magic, I honestly have no idea. But for wilderness survival, well, I am your man!" Kristoff said proudly. Anna shushed him.

"Any ideas?"

"I don't know," Anna said, "Why don't you start by freezing some dummies? Or trying to throw ice spikes at them?"

"That could be done, easily."

"Yes! I got an idea! Remember how useful your ice walls are? Why don't you practice trying to block incoming projectiles?" Kristoff burst out.

The two royalties looked at him in shock.

"Actually, that is a good idea!" Anna said, amazed.

"Okayyyyy... Ice walls and spikes, complete with acrobatics for beginners, bow and arrow section with the Hunter's Guild, along with basic weapons with the General." Elsa said unhappily, "Oh joy!"

"Come on, it's not so bad. At least it is practical!" Anna said cheerfully.

"Why don't you two train with me than?" Elsa shot back.

"Wait, what?" Anna said.

"How was this even connected to me?" Kristoff asked, bewilded, who was enjoying a meat pie.

"By the order of the queen," Elsa said evilly," I said that the two of you are to learn self defence!"

"Oh come on!" Anna complained.

"Nope that is that! And I am going to retreated back to my spare bedroom. You guys go enjoy your last day of happiness!" With that, Elsa left the table, went to her spare bedroom and flopped down un-queenly on the fluffy bed.


	3. First class

"_My Queen! It's time for waking up!"_

Elsa sleepily opened one eye, her brain fuzzily trying to remember what and where is she right now.

Oh right, she is the Queen. She was in her bedroom and... Never mind. Elsa rolled off her bed, sliding off the covers and ran her fingers through her now messy hair, looking in the mirror. God.

She looked terrible. There are prominent bags under her eyes, her hair was fit for a bird's nest, all stuck up and crazy. Her sleeping gown was frayed and crumpled like waste paper. Elsa went to the closet and changed her self into a more formal, can-be-seen by public queen gown. There, a lot better! Then she used her magic to straighten out her hair, untying the complex knots that build up in it.

Elsa then went to her bathroom, where a sink full of cold water awaits her (since she could make ice, unlimited cold water was then provided to every noble in the castle).

She dunk her face in un-ceremoniously and washed it vigorously, clearing her mind. _Brrrr that was freezing!_

Now, once she deemed herself presentable, she went to the door and opened it, revealing a grumpy faced steward, Kai. He said dully (he was one of the few people that was allowed to _not _speak formally to the Queen, since he was close to family already) , "My Queen, it appears that you had overslept."

"Kai, what do you mean?"

"My Queen, you had slept form yesterday's afternoon straight to today's morning." Kai said monotonously.

It took a while for Elsa to comprehend what he meant. Then the meaning hit her like a sledgehammer, and she rushed to the window, and sure enough, the sun was rising. She must be really exhausted yesterday! "Oh no! Kai, the meetings, the signings-"

"No worry, my Queen, I already took care of them. Now if you will, it is time for breakfast."

Evidentially he heard her stomach rumbling.

"Good!" said Elsa, brightened by the prospect of breakfast.

Then Kai beat her to the bottom again," After that, you would have several courts to attend. And most of all, your 'training' starts today."

Oh damn.

**~(Somewhat later, after lunch)~**

Elsa was somewhat pleased to see the castle completely crawling with guards, all on full alert, checking everyone's badges or identity. And breakfast was exquisite, as today's course was pancakes with chocolate toppings, dipped in honey. If it wasn't for the prospect of actually exercising, she might had truly stuffed herself.

Anna and Kristoff both seemed to share Elsa's view, but they both glared daggers at Elsa because 'By her majesty's order these two are to be enlisted for my royal "Exercising"'. So at least Elsa won't be alone.

The court was boring (as usual), and got three cases, concerning a rampaging cow, a thief and some other divorce. Elsa skimmed through most of it, allowing Kai to handle the brunt of the boredom, but somehow he seemed to enjoy it, with his great speeches, fancy word play and all that. Elsa would never understand the man.

Then, not before long, Elsa's dreaded moment came. _**Exercise!**_

The ball room was cleared out, the tables, chairs moved to one side. A make shift wall was set on the back of the hall, to prevent collateral damages to the hall. Before the wall, was a row of straw dummies, complete with painted bull's-eyes. In front of the targets, were lines that were labeled 'ten-meters', 'fifteen-meters', 'twenty-meters' and so on. Seriously, the general is truly devoted in this, isn't he?

Standing in the hall, was a gruffed-looking ranger, the general himself, and a monk in robes.

Elsa, Anna and Kristoff strode forward. Elsa gave a letter to the three instructors, who read it silently, and gave Elsa an 'are you serious?' look. Basically, the letter said that, while training, the Queen was relieved of her title, until the training was finished. Things like that we're not handled out lightly.

Elsa nodded gravely, though she understand the nessisity of her knowing how to defend her self, she still despised this session.

"Well, then!" The General said somewhat cheerfully, "Let's get started. So here's the deal. Each of you will follow one of us in training. Sir Kristoff, you shall train with me. Anna, you shall go with the ranger. And lastly, Elsa, you would go with the monk."

Now, they each followed their respective instructors to their corner of the hall.

Kristoff looked unhappy about being paired with a huge, hulking knight, and said," Why am I even here? Weren't it just Elsa that needed this treatment? "

"Nope. Other than just building your muscle, Elsa also want me to carry this message to you: Knowing how to fight does good in winning over Anna."

"What?-"

"No more of that. I understand that living in the wild had gave you basic survival talents and good muscles, but you still need weapons training. What is your preferred weapon of choice?"

**Anna-**

The ranger was a decidedly weird looking man, his clothes ragged and was coloured in different shades of molted green, completed with a cloak of the same colours. At his belt, hung an array of pouches, knifes and several unknown tools, and a great long bow was hung over his back. His hair was messy, untrimmed. Rugged side-burns lined his face, and several scars could be seen.

And also he wore a permanent scowl on his face.

"Anna," he acknowledged her.

"Unknown man with a bow." She acknowledged him. He did not smile.

"I am your instructor, and should be entitled with respect at all times," he paused for a moment.

"Fine."

"As my 'pupil', I expect you to be ready, mentally and physically for the training."

Anna nodded.

"The aim of my course is to teach you survival skills, competent with bows and knifes, agility most of all, independence."

Great! Agility, independence! Her strongest suit! _Not!_

"So, um, what are we doing?"

The ranger raised an eyebrow, and said,"We, are going to the wild."

**Elsa-**

From the corner of her eye, Elsa saw the ranger dragging Anna off out of the hall. For a moment, she pitied her, knowing that this party-lover's life is going to turn into an absolute nightmare of wildness survival. Elsa then turned her attention back to her instructor, who was actually a paladin of the Cross, not exactly a monk. He was talking that how he would provide her physical exercises, meditations, targets and things.

"So, are we clear?" the paladin asked.

"Crystal."

"Good. Now, as you can see, the General had kindly help me set up some targets along the wall," He waved his arm to empathize his point," Let me see how you would deal with _one _of them. Go to the ten-meter line and proceed please."

Obediently, Elsa went to the line, and fired an icy river of freezing wind at the target. The target was covered entirely in ice within moments.

"Hmm, impressive. I see that the General did not lie about your prowess.", the paladin mused, "Now if you may, please unfreeze it."

Elsa did so.

"Your majesty-"

"Please, call me Elsa," She interrupted, "remember, I am no queen while in training."

'Very well then, Elsa. May I ask, do you always seek to petrify or otherwise leave your opponent unharmed?"

"Of cause! All lives are precious! I have no right to take theirs-"

"Elsa, then, if you are to actually wound or kill your opponent, what would you do?"

Elsa pondered on this for a few moments. Then she blasted the recently thawed dummy with a sharp icicle, impaling it, as an answer.

The paladin whistled. That, was certainly deadly. He asked Elsa," So, you are capable of violence. May I ask, do your magic have... limits?"

"What do you mean by, limits?"

"I mean that if you use your magic for too long, would you get tired? Unable to focus or unable to use magic?"

That was a tricky question.

After a few minutes (really, minutes!) of thinking, Elsa finally said, "Well, yes. That was like after I do something enormous, like making a complete ice castle, or summoning a giant blizzard. Other than that, no."

The paladin muttered,"Interesting... An unusually large mana pool with shocking regeneration at such a young age..."

"Excuse me? What do you mean?" Elsa asked, curious.

"Elsa, you should know that you are not the only one with magic in this entire world."

"Wait, you are saying there are more people with with magic powers out there?" Elsa asked, amazed.

"Of cause! Why do you think I am here? How do I know what sessions to give you? I had been doing this for quite some time too."

"Okayyy... And also, what is mana?"

"Mana is the magical charge you have to create and control magic. It is like, a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger and larger it gets. But like muscle, it needs rest to regenerate. You, your mana pool was the largest I have ever personally saw in my life. And your regeneration, its absolutely amazing. "

Hearing this, Elsa felt quite giddy. She was unique! Powerful!

"But, Elsa, you still got a lot to work on. You see, to use magic, you need to exert your will over it, and that is why I am going to show you how to focus. Also, other than that, you need creativity to make and use more complex magic. Tell me, what was the most complex thing you ever made?"

Elsa considered this question (again) for a while. That Ice Palace was great and amazing, very detailed. But the most astonishing, would be...

"I, umm... I made a living snowman."

"You what?"

"A living, talking snowman."

"By the gods, you actually made life?"

"Two, actually." Elsa said quietly.

"Two living snowman." the paladin breath out, shocked. Then he turned his eyes on Elsa, "You truly are limitless, are you?"

"Is that good or not?" Elsa asked, concerned.

"Good? Bad? I can't say. But you got a lot of potential. Do you realize just how crazily gifted you are?"

"Yes?"

"Elsa, over the centuries, countless witches and wizards had sought to bring life, or to say, Necromastery."

"Necromastery?"

"Yes! To revive the dead! And no one, _no one, _in history had ever truly made something alive that can actually think sentiently! But you! Elsa, managed it on the first try without even realizing it."

"Hold on, I do not revive the dead!"

"Necromastery is more that! More than just that! It concerns the spiritual world, souls and things living _or _dead."

"So, what is your point?"

"You turned out to be a lot stronger than I thought. I think that my methods are not going to be affective on you. I do not wish to say this to you but, if you are really looking for magical tutors, you need to talk to my leader."


	4. First class, part two

"Whoa whoa there, stranger! What wildness and why?" Anna asked, trying to go any way out other than the Castle Gates.

The ranger cursed. He should had known that the younger princess had no idea, that Queen Elsa has not told her about what they are about to do. Well, that could be solved.

"Your sister had enlisted me for your tutoring. And that, was written in this letter, which he promptly held out to Anna. A personal letter? Who is this man?

She snatched it from his fingers and started reading:

* * *

Ranger Cairn,

As the return to your previous letter, I shall list what I wish to be included in my sister's training. First of all, independence and decision making, then competent survival skills and if possible, ranger and weapons training.

Wildness survival, the ability to control and hold back her impulses were essential. Teach her in any way you can.

Be noticed that while this letter holds affect, which will until the end of her training, or maximum one year unless lengthened by another letter from the Queen of Arendelle. The princess would be relieved of her title, and was to be treated as any other ranger apprentice. But in case of emergency, refer to the normal procedure.

The rest were open topic. But please be reminded, she was a royal born.

Sincerely,

Queen Elsa.

* * *

Okayyyyy that was hard to take in. Anna was going into the forest, infested with creepy crawlies of every kind, not to mention all those scary predators! Wolfs! Bears! Mountain Tigers! Every thing that can kill you!

"Damn." Anna mouthed the only word she could think of after stuttering for a few seconds. A few passer-bys gave her and her companion odd looks, but carried on their business after a while.

The ranger raised an eyebrow, and said,"Not creative but true enough. Come on, let's get going."

"Wait a moment! I haven't even packed things ye-"

"No. Nothing anyone like you would bring can help you."

"Of course not!"

"Really?" The ranger stopped yanking on her arm, "And what would you bring?"

"Uhhh...Clothes?"

"You want to bring a dress to the forest?"

"I got boots and jackets, you know!"

"Those leather boots and jackets you buy are too soft and thin! One good scratch on a branch and its a goner! Everything you will ever need was already prepared in my place. Now will you please _walk?"_

"MY point is that, as a princess I can't just simply disappear!"

"Why not?"

"I am a princess! What are the people suppose to think if I just go _poof? They-"_

"That, was taken care off. This very morning I had talked with your sister and your steward about this. By now, every one in the castle should know about this."

Anna's previously open mouth clopped shut, her mind furiously trying to think up some excuse of not going.

"Just face it, would you? Get going!" The ranger pulled at her arm again.

"No!" Anna screamed at his face.

"If this is how you respond to un-expected things, then I got a lot to work on. And please tell me that you know how to ride a horse!..."

**Kristoff-**

"A pick axe? You serious about this?" the General asked, surprised.

"What? You ask me what I like and this is it! A pick axe!" Kristoff said, incredulous.

"I understand that!" The General snapped at him," But may I ask, why a pick axe?"

"Look, as an ice digger, I use the pick axe all the time, so I like it."

"Fair enough... But we got a small problem." The General glanced at the weapon rack he prepared," As you can see, pick axes are not exactly what warriors typically look for. We got swords, axes, maces, even a giant pair of metal claws! But no. I afraid that we don't have a pick axe at hand."

"Wait a moment. Why can't I simply use mine? It's good enough to crack stone and ice, surely it's enough to crack skulls..."

"No. The problem is that a normal pick axe is to short, the reach is not long enough. The only sharp point is the end and is trick to swing..." the General realised that he was ranting, and cutting it short, "It is not efficient!"

For a moment, Kristoff was severely disappointed. Really? What is wrong with a good, old pick axe? It perfectly lethal in the right hands...

Suddenly, an idea sparked. A truely awesome one. Hastily and excited, he turned back at the General and asked,"What about a scythe?"

The General blinked, "Excuse me? Did I hear you wrong for I heard you say-"

"Scythe!"

"Scythe," the General repeated.

"Yes. A scythe."

"Are you out of your mind?" The General asked incredulously.

"What's wrong with it? Again?"

"It's a tool for harvesting! Not killing!"

"So? It got a sharp edge _and _a sharp point. The handle is longer too! What practical things can you complain about this time?"

The General's mouth opened and closed rapidly, stuttering for a few moments.

Then, he said quietly," Are you really serious about this?"

"Yes. Why not? I like being a grim-reaper of death."

"It... Can be arranged, but it will be tricky. But first of all, you mean a one handed one or a two handed one?"

"The bigger the better."

"Ahh fine. Now how on earth are we going to find someone to teach you how to use a scythe?"

**Elsa-**

"Your leader... I trust you do not mean his significance-"

"No! Of cause not. I mean the leader of this particular faction, the part that handles magic."

"How would that help?"

"Signing you up for a magic school? Teach you himself? These things, are not for me to say."

"So basically, you yourself have nothing much to offer."

"Well, no. When you first notified me to come over here, I was told what your magic was, so on my trip to Arendelle, I spend most of my time devising several practical ice practices for you to do, at least before you go find someone professional for your tutor. If you want to ask about my leader, talk to me at... Dinner. Now shall we get back to our practice, hmm?"

"Fine," Elsa said, somewhat abashed," Now what are we doing?"

"I see that you are adept in creating ice already, but just what quality is the ice?"

"Quality?"

"Is it brittle? Could it be broken easily?"

Elsa thought about it for a while. No, her ice was quite hard and heat resistant. She made a bridge out of ice and it held! "Hard enough."

"Hmm," the paladin mumbled, unimpressed with the answer," Why don't you show me? Make two ice pillars, one as hard as possible, one as fragile as possible."

Elsa shuffled over to a relatively more open space. And began working on the first pillar. She wanted it to be glasslike, or as if made of sugar. She decided that maybe leaving tons of air bubble, the actual structure thin and web like, would make it crumble to the touch. Now, concentrating, she struggled to raise her pillar.

God. It was harder than she thought it would ever be. So far, she had not really force her self to make a particular sort of snow or ice before, and it proved that she was not really competent at this.

After a few minutes, she finally finished her pillar. And in a sudden, she realized that she was _sweating. Sweating! _

"Sir?"

"Yes?" the paladin answered, amused by his title, referred by a queen (that was not exactly queen, now).

"I think that your methods are actually working."

"You got one pillar done. Now let's get going on the second one, shall you?"

With a huff, Elsa turned back on the pillar and started building the second a pillar next to it. This time, because she was aiming hardness, she sealed the entire pillar, driving all the air out, making the pillar a single, smooth mass of ice.

Sighing and sweating again, she looked at the paladin with raised eyebrows.

The paladin nodded, and went to inspect the the pillars. The fragile one was first. He ran his fingers on the surface, and suddenly rapped the ice once.

And a small crater appeared. Nodding in approval, he went onto the next pillar.

He ran his fingers on it again, testing it.

He then went over to the weapons rack and grabbed an iron hammer. He walked back to the pillar, and smashed at the pillar with all his force.

The pillar cracked.

And the hammer splintered into pieces, the metal ringing on the floor.

"Hmm," the paladin hummed unhappily.

"Something wrong?"

"Your fragile pillar was expertly done, it broke easily at your other pillar..."

"What was wrong with it?" Elsa said defensively," Your hammer broke apart!"

The paladin frowned," It was certainly solid enough, but really, it should not even crack."

"You freaking smashed it with a hammer! Of cause it would crack! even stone cracks if being hammered!"

"Shhh! What I mean was that although it was hard, it could be better. You can magic to reinforce it, not just physically!"

"...?"

"Okay, try this. Think magic as not physics, but just _magic."_

"Just magic?" That, wasn't really helping.

"When I see that you have trouble doing what I asked you, I knew what you are thinking. Are you think things like 'lighter' or 'compact'?"

"You are not suppose to?"

"You are suppose to think it as magic, not reality. Think about what you wished it to be, not _how _to be. Think solid and it shall be."

"How did you know about all this?" Elsa asked, amazed. In her hand, she was already trying to make ice spheres, testing out his methods.

"Lets say, I got some talent myself, but only much milder," he smiled, "And I find such methods effective. Now why don't we call this a day?"

Elsa glanced at the window, and to her surprise, what had seemed like one hour with her tutor, had turned out to be hours. The sun was already just over the horizon.


	5. Afternoon

Kristoff was feeling sore and unhappy all over.

After what he had visioned as weapon training from a master, had turned out to be running around the hall with sand bags, doing multiple exercises and to try to climb the castle wall, _from the outside, _using vines and stone footholds. Even though he was well muscled and balanced from years of perilous work on thin sheets of ices and constant battle with ice wolfs and the cold, his body would be screaming 'Mercy!' if it can speak. Well, technically Kristoff himself did.

Little use was that.

He had complained to the general," What was the point of this? If it was simply doing exercise then I could simply do it myself."

"The difference is that these are set by experienced experts, so suck it up, son. The sand bags wouldn't run around the hall themselves," he said, mercilesy.

So, after the afternoon full of work outs and exercising, a brief, uneventful dinner that he did not actually noticed much, Kristoff collapsed into bed, falling asleep within seconds. So fast that he did not even note that Anna was not in the castle.

**Anna-**

In the same afternoon, Anna had a very different experience from Kristoff, and just as unhappy about it.

From the castle, on horse and fuming, Anna followed behind the ranger silently, away from the roads and into the forest, to the west, un-cultivated land. The forest was thick with trees, low-hanging branches and leaves. The ground was bumpy and uneven, covered in leaves, globs of mud and twigs. The air was humid and hot, smelling of plants and nature, the growing and rotting of vegetation. The sunlight was strong, but the leaves and branches offered worthy protection, and that Anna was happy about.

Anna doesn't dislike the wild, in fact she loved it. After all those years of holing up in the castle, finally able to step outside of the halls and tiles, she welcomed everything the world had to offer, enjoying freedom for the first time. She doesn't mind getting herself dirty... If someone else can wash it for her. But now, out there in this survival ranger training, she was pretty sure she had to do it her self. Cause after all, she was still a princess born.

They weaved through the vegetation, following a barely discernible dirt path deeper in to the forest. As they went deeper, the trees grew taller, up to four stories tall, the leaves denser, the sunlight weaker. And in contrast, the sound of the wild grew louder, animals howling and hooting, billions and billions of insects buzzing.

And another thing that Anna hated.

Insects, spiders, snakes.

Yikes.

She was shivering unconsciously, and when she noticed it, she scolded herself. _What is wrong with you? When Elsa was in trouble you charged out valiantly like a knight into the woods and mountains without a second thought. Now, why are you scared? Especially accompanied? _

_Well, _she thought to herself, _this was not an emergency and not Elsa..._

_Elsa bade you here, and you better do it._

"Anna, we're here. Get off your horse, would you?"

Anna snapped up from her daydream and sat up, perched like a bird on the saddle, alarmed. Then she remembered what the ranger had just said and realized that there was no danger. She let go of her panic-induced breathe, and slid off her horse.

She looked around, and saw that her surroundings have no difference to anywhere on her trip. Just trees, bushes, dirt and stone, rinse and repeat.

She looked at the ranger suspiciously, and asked,"Why are we stopping? Weren't you suppose to bring be to your house?"

He replied simply," Look up then."

Complying, she looked up. At first, she couldn't see what she was suppose to look for, screwing her eyes together, wondering what the ranger meant. Then, she saw it.

And gasped.

Right up there, among the treetops, was a hut. Carefully and expertly hidden, shrouded in leaves and a canopy of green and brown. The tree it was perched on was old and wrinkled, covered in vines and moss. Complete with the surroundings, it looked like a scene from a fairytale.

It took her a moment to close her mouth.

"Wow. Okay then... How do we get up there?"

"We climb up, of cause."

"Whoa. Don't tell me you expect me to climb _that!_" Fairytale or not, there is no way that Anna would ever, _ever _try and actually able to climb to the top.

"Why not?"

"I have never climbed anything before! Last time I tried it went disastrous. How on earth am I going to climb a tree?"

"Then I believe you would have to practice."

"Practice?"

"Well, as long as you can't climb up there, there would be no roof over you. So I suggest you better get started," He said dryly.

"What? You are just going to leave me out here? In the woods?"

"Sure. Why not?"

Anna then muttered obscene suggestions at the ranger.

The ranger raised his bushy eyebrows at her, and briefly climbed up the tree in seconds, leaving Anna alone, under the tree.

**Elsa-**

It was an exhausting day for her, even though she really did not did much. At dinner, ahe had asked the paladin about his leader, and talked about the philosophy of magic.

The paladin had said that he would send a pigeon to him, to see if he could do anything. Elsa was grateful of that.

She then asked him, that if he could reveal his real name. But then he shook his head and said,"Names are dangerous things. It binds us to our being, to what we are, so therefore can be used against us. That was why most magicians would choose to forget their real name, to lose it in the stream of time."

"I trust you that you wouldn't use mine against me?" Elsa asked, smiling.

"That, I would promise." He smiled back.

"So, what shall I call you when you remain in Arendelle?"

"Hmm..." he considered for a few seconds, "Robert?"

"Robert... That's fine name."

"Robert it be then."

Elsa smiled. She liked this man, sincerely. She can't exactly answer _why_, well, maybe because of his calm, generally cheerful demeanor. Or the fact he was polite because he _is, _not just trying to be and act politely, like so many others out there. He was well taught, full of knowledge and was happy to share it...

_Snap out of it! _Elsa told herself, _He is your teacher, and he would be gone sooner or later!_

"So,' Elsa asked, in an effort to continue the conversation and to move out of her current line of thoughts, 'What was your 'talent?'"

"It is healing." the newly named Robert answered.

"Healing, you mean like someone got a cut, and you put your hands on it and _ta dah! _it would be healed? Or is it just limited to yourself?"

"Well, so far I can only heal myself, capable of healing cuts, broken bones and other minor injuries."

"You would list broken bones in 'minor injuries'?"

"Decapitation would be in the severe section, and hopefully some days later I would be able to heal _that _too when I need it," he said, smiling.

"So, actually you are also learning?"

"Why, yes. Magic was an open ended subject, there was never an end with magic. As long as you are strong enough and creative enough, you can do it."

"So far I can manipulate ice and make snowman. Anything that I should be able to do as I progress?"

"Sigils, curses, emotional tempering, and basically anything that you can think of."

"Sigils?"

"Words of powers, _runes, _if you may. It was magical words, stored in the form of writing, engravings, drawings and such."

"What are their uses? I mean, why would people use it? Can't they just simply make the thing happen without sigils?"

"Okay. Think of sigils as a bookmark, a focusing point. Remember those ice pillars you made? It was coded in your magic. If you can focus it down into the sigil, which acts as a bookmark to allow you to quickly and flawlessly recreate the same act you've made. Instant ice pillars and such."

Elsa thought about that for a minute, thinking of their uses. Certainly, it would be handy, but just how? That, she voiced it.

"Well, imagine a rune, anything that might symbolize your magic."

"All I could think of was a column-like outlines."

"That is fine. Now can you surround the rune you've made with words that might describe what you are making?"

"Does it have to be in any particular runic-"

"No. Any languages are fine."

"Okay then." Elsa screwed up her eyes, focusing on this mental image. Around the blurry column outline, floating in her mind, she begun to add words to it, one at a time. Ice? Tall? Solid? No bubbles? Elsa then remembered what Robert had said about magic. _Willed it into existence, Elsa. Don't try to use logic and such to control. Will it to be and it will be."_

Suddenly, the image in her mind magnified, well detailed, with words spiraling around it. The previously blurry edges became well defined, glinting blue.

Without a thought, she waved her hand, and a blue sphere of frost flew out, hitting the table.

The magic frost gathered onto the table, forming the sigil Elsa made in her mind. And like a flower opening, the sigil burst out in a shower of ice, trusting upward into an ice column, large enough to impale the ceiling.

Elsa and Robert stared at it opened mouthed, while Kristoff slumped on one side, dozing and completely oblivious to the world.

Finally, after a few minutes, Robert said weakly, "Well, that's a start."


	6. Day two starting

Anna sniffled and huddled close to the feeble fire she had built, under the tree. She had given up on climbing the tree when the sun sets, shrouding the forest in shadows. Through the darkness, Anna stumbled around and tried to collect twigs and dry leaves, taking almost an hour in total darkness to set up a fire.

She sniffled again, her eyes alert and scared. Damn that ranger, leaving her down like that! What kind of sadistic, mad man would do that?

Right now, she really missed home and dinner.

Despite her efforts to stay awake, sleep eventfully took over her and she slipped away into dreamland, slumping on to the ground.

Above her, the ranger stood watch, approving. He hadn't expect Anna to be able to climb the tree on the first day, or the first week. But, the effort she took in order to build a fire surprised and pleased him. Maybe she _was _of teaching material.

Also, there was really no danger in _this _part of the forest. All predators had long learned to stay clear of him.

But even though, through the night, the ranger stood watch.

**Kristoff-**

He groaned slightly as he struggled to open his eyes. His muscles are aching and the sleep felt like an instant, no rest at all. Groaning, he slid off his bed, still not noting that Anna was missing. Like a zombie, he slugged off to change his clothes and washed his face.

He dreaded what would be coming later. _More _hellish training form the General, this time maybe even worse. And exceptionally, he noticed that he did not remember most of yesterday's activities, his brain to tired to do anything.

When he finished his 'grooming', he zombied off downstairs to have breakfast. Maybe the chefs have made omelets this time.

**Elsa-**

Before she went to bed, Elsa was busy messing around with her powers, trying to create random sigils and using the methods of 'will it and it will be".

It was proving very effective. Ta da! Instant freezing! Curvy columns!

Even in her sleep, she dreamt of herself in a hailstorm, whirling magic of awesomeness around her.

She smiled through the entire night and when she woke up, her mouth was aching, though that didn't bothered her at all.

In a flurry of breakfast, usual boring court business and conversations, she finally came to the moment she was waiting for - TRAINING!

Next to her, Kristoff had finally noticed that Anna was gone, and was having a very different view of it.

In the ballroom, the set up was different again. First of all, the weapon's rack was gone, replaced with several sand bags. The tutors are still here (save the ranger ), yet this time, they are armored. There are also several empty tables as well.

Kristoff slugged off to the General, and Elsa walked to Robert, who waved at her and asked her , "I trust you have a good night's sleep?"

"Better."

Robert smiled and said, "Good. You would need even more focus then yesterday this time."

"So... what are we doing this time?"

"Still ice manipulation, but a lot more advanced than yesterday. You apparently had the gift of learning quickly."

"You flatter me,"

"No, I do not flatter. So, according to the list of teachings I was suppose to give to you, it included weapons training," he said and raised an eyebrow.

Elsa smiled weakly in return. Yikes.

"But that can wait," Robert said cheerfully, and Elsa's spirit lifted.

"So, what are we waiting for?"

"Let's get started then. Today you are to make smaller, detailed objects. Let start with a small, two inches tall statue."

"What kind of statue?"

Robert considered for a moment, and said, "What about your unlucky companion over there?"

"Kristoff?"

"The one lifting sandbags."

"Kristoff it be, then." she went to a nearby table, and started focusing.

Making statues are generally easier for Elsa but small ones are still tricky. She looked closely at Kristoff, taking in the details, while her hands are molding a lump of ice, slowly growing to resemble a humanoid figure. soon, details began to surface. Nose, neck, clothes, hair... emerging form the ice.

A few moments later, a tiny Kristoff stood on the table, and Elsa backed off breathlessly, before she add a small pick axe in his hands for good measure.

Robert went for a closer look, and concluded, "His nose is a bit too large."

"Of cause not. He's perfect!" Elsa scolded, indignant, while also secretly fixing the nose with magic.

"What ever. So, now that I see that you _are _able to make detailed objects too. Now, why don't you... make a sword?"

"Sword?" Elsa asked, surprised.

"You never know. Now I know that you are not familiar with swords and their designs. Luckily, I prepared one for you," with that, he reached to his scabbard and drew his sword, a beautiful double sided one-hand blade, sharp and glinting in the light.

"Okayyyyy lets do this." Elsa rubbed her hands together, psyching herself up for the task.

She focused on the sword, taking in everything, the handle, the crosspiece to every individual carvings on the blade. In her hands, an oblong shape began to form, growing sharper, flatter and more defined by the second.

Finally, after half a minute, the sword was formed, glistering ice, identical to its counterpart.

Elsa held it in her hands for a moment, and she suddenly realized the sword was _heavy. _With an _oof!_, she let the point drop onto the wooden floor.

Robert held out his hand for the sword, which Elsa gave him.

He studied the sword in his hands for a minute, and said, "Well done."

Elsa beamed with pride. Really, that was the first compliment from him today, and suddenly the sky seemed to glow brighter for her.

"Though, the blade could be a bit sharper."

Elsa frowned and took over the blade, squinting. "It's sharp," she concluded.

"Could be better. Why don't you give it a try?"

Elsa closed and focused, _sharper, sharper!_

Elsa tried this until her head start to hurt. She then open her eyes and looked at the sword. The edge was indeed less rounded.

In fact, it turned blurry.

She gave the sword to Robert handle-first, which he took from her hands.

He frowned and ran his mail-gloved hand down the blade.

_Shieek!_

Surprised, Robert dropped the sword.

It impaled the ground, went straight through until the handle stopped its decent through wood and stone, the blade itself submerged within. Clutching his hand, Robert watched as his fingers start to bleed.

A terse silence followed.

"Sorry..." Elsa apologized quietly.

Robert took off his gloves and placed them on a nearby table, and looked at Elsa incredulously, "Sorry? Why are you sorry?"

"You're bleeding." Elsa said, gesturing at his ruined fingers.

"Oh, this? Its nothing." Robert held his hand near his mouth, and whispered a few indiscernible words.

Elsa watched, fascinated as the flesh started to knit itself together, blood seeping back into the wound, it glowed with yellow light.

"Wow," that was the only thing that she could say.

"And I would say the same for your sword." He reached down and plucked the blade from the floor, "You should probably keep it."

"Me?" Elsa asked, surprised, "What would I do with it?"

"Use it? Practice with it?"

"I would sooner cut my self with it before I can wield it."

"And that is why I am here to teach you. Would you mind storing that in a sigil too? And also can you dull this blade? For safety measures? I am going to have to teach you several sword moves..."

**Kristoff-**

He collapsed onto the floor, panting, letting the sand bags on his shoulder to roll off. He laid spread-eagle on the floor, his eyes out of focus. Man, the General is insane! Having him to do such exercises that are clearly not meant for mankind.

The said-person stood next to his prone form, regarding him with a emotionless, dead eyes.

After a while, Kristoff regained conscious, focusing on the General with tired, wary eyes and mumbled, "Yeah?"

"I have good news for you, but in my opinion you are not ready for it." the General frowned at him, and said "Get up, would you?"

Groaning and struggling, Kristoff managed into a siting position and gestured at the General to continue.

"We had located someone that _might_ be able to teach you the skills you require."

"How is that good news?"

"I don't have to deal with you anymore, if the information spoke truly. And also, you get to go on a vacation to the middle of nowhere."

"_That, _is better."

"And you are leaving, today."

"_WHATTT?"_


	7. Day two ending

Anna woke up groggily, instinctively trying to slide off her bed. But when her hand hit grass and leaves instead, she instantly bolt up, confused, unaware where she was.

Then she remembers. Oh yeah, training.

The forest, the night. _Now _she remembers.

She stood up and yawned, squinting her blurry eyes to see her surroundings. The forest was the same, abate brightly lit with the sun shining straight down on her. Her small camp was a mess of twigs and dry leaves. The fire was out and it appeared that it did _not _burn down anything thing important.

Wait. Something had changed. Next to her on a dried tree stump, was a small bundle tightly wrapped in leaves and bound with twine. Intrigued, Anna went over and unwrapped it carefully.

And it was rice. Something that Anna had tasted once in her life, dunked in sauce with chicken and mushrooms. And when the smell hit her, Anna's stomach grumbled like crazy. With a jolt, she realized that she had not eaten dinner.

Anna looked down at the food, and without a second thought, she began to wolf the rice. The sauce was salty and delicious, matching perfectly with the rice, chicken and mushroom. And the best thing is that the rice was still warm!

In seconds, the rice was gone.

Anna looked down sadly at the empty leaves in her hand, and noticed there are tiny scribbling on the leaves. Pulling the leaves close, she read:

* * *

_This would be the last course that I would cook for you. There is a pack of equipment hidden in the tree stump. Further instructions could be found in the bag. I would be watching._

* * *

The man can cook? And how on earth did he get a pack in the tree trunk? And if he does, how was he sure that she would happen to rest next to it?

And the creepiest thing?

He was _watchingggg!_

Looking around uncomfortably, Anna can see no trace of the man. Not on the trees, not in the bushes, not anywhere that she could see. But yet she can feel his presence, his eyes observing...

Anna unconsciously shivered, but otherwise she went on with her given task.

She went to the stump, and started groping about it, and it proved quite fruitless. The surface was smooth and shining, evidentially the tree was chopped down instead of naturally snapping.

Come on! Use your brain! Anna stepped back and squinted at the trunk, running the words in her mind.

_There is a pack of equipment hidden in the tree stump._

In the tree stump... literally? Well, it must be. A pack... Well, it could be camouflaged!

And Anna started to grope at the stump again for a few minutes.

And once again it proved incredibly fruitless.

Seriously, what was in this damn stump? For a moment, Anna considered whacking at it with a piece of sharp rock or something.

WAIT A MOMENT!

That 'tree stump' wasn't here yesterday... or was it?

Gingerly, Anna knocked on the wood, receiving a hollow knocking sound.

_Seriously?_ Anna face palmed herself.

The tree stump is a lie?

All that trouble just to get her brain running?

With barely hidden contempt, she roughly flipped the 'tree trunk' over.

Sure enough, it was hollow. And inside, was a bag.

After pulling the bag out and giving the 'tree stump' a good hearty kick for good measure, she noticed a note pinned to the bag.

* * *

_If you took one minute to solve this puzzle, the__n you are normal. Any more than that then you are stupid. Now, your next task is to catch your lunch. You have two options: go spear some fishes in the river nearby or set up traps to catch some wildlife. Or both. The instructions and equipment for making and using the snares and spears are in the bag._

_Once again, I'm watching_ you.

* * *

_..._

So now what? Is she classified as 'STUPID' now? How dare he insult her like that! So he is 'watching'?

With that, she let out a stream of swears and curses that she had ever heard in her life.

**Kristoff-**

He checked his map again, frowning. Some while ago he was pretty sure he went passed the Throne of Kings, as according to the map. But now, he saw another boulder that resembles the Throne of Kings.

So which is which?

Well, it doesn't matter much, because the village he was supposed to visit was like at the end of the road he was on. So what ever.

Kristoff folded up his map and sighed. He looked up and at the sky, the sun that seemed to be literally soaring across and the endless trek that he was on.

Beneath him, Sven sighed too. Together, they are a rather strange figure. A man cladded in winter clothes, with a big back pack and pick axe strapped to his belt. And to sum it up he was riding a reindeer that seemed to be bored.

Well _duh!_

The trip was indeed boring as hell. On either side of the beaten path, were endless arrays of assorted trees, stones, occasional signposts, thousand-year old ruins and crypts. Not to mention the road itself was clear of any other living beings.

Time passed by, as Kristoff and his trusty reindeer friend slowly made their way to the village, only occasionally stopping to relieve themselves of their bulging bladder, until the sun finally sets and they were forced to make camp on the side of the road, somewhere secluded beyond.

**Elsa-**

Elsa's under-used muscle was aching, yet she was feeling more content than she ever felt before. Oh well, she hadn't actually done any physical exercises since she was locked away in her room ( save running all the way to North Mountain, on foot ).

She had discovered that she might have a talent for sword play. Her strikes and parries were accurate enough, at least for a beginner. When she complained that the ice sword was heavy ( it _was _heavy. Heavier than you might expect of a sword that size ), Robert had said, "Remember, the sword was made of ice. What was your power?"

"Over ice?" Elsa said, frowning.

"Exactly. Now since you have power over it, why can't you... hover it?"

"You are saying that I can somewhat guide the sword with my will?"

"Yes. Precisely. Go on. Give it a try."

And there goes the rest of the day, with Elsa being a lot happier.

At dinner, they had their discussions again. Robert suggested, "I had a idea. An outing, if you are willing."

"Go on, tell me."

"I noticed that you are naturally adept at casting and using magic, but the speed, the rapidness is not enough. You can not keep track of multiple instance of magic at work. I think that we should do something about that."

"Your suggestion...?"

"We, could go over to the garden, where you will control multiple ice shards flying through the air, hitting precise targets and such."

"Sure, why not? It will do well for me to learn."

"And also along with the swordplay practice, sigils making and such."

"So tomorrow would be a big day then."

"Tomorrow is Saturday, is it not? Is it possible for you to be away from your queenly duties for longer? It was because I felt that these sessions were a tad too short, and you seemed to enjoy it..."

"Well yes, I do. I will see if I can talk to Kai about it. Just maybe, no promises. But even so, tomorrow must be at normal time. Royal arrangements can not be changed so easily."

"I look forward to that day then. And also..."

"Yes?"

"All those moves I showed you, try to see if you can... freeze them with magic into your mind. Can't believe that I hadn't asked you to test that out yet."

"'Freezing'?"

"Like using magic to code the memories inside your mind. See you can do it later with your sword, for generally it seemed to only when you are actually performing the move. Some people can do it some can not. My magic was somewhat... physical," Robert said, not please with the word he finally came up with, "Well, what I mean is that my magic was based on the human body strengthening and regenerating. So luckily, the 'freezing' part was also counted in."

"Okay... I will make sure to do that when I got the chance."

"Good." Robert stood up from the table, and folded his used cloth on the table, "In that case, I guess we would know tomorrow, wouldn't I?"

"Yes, we would." Elsa said quietly, as she watched him excusing himself and leaving through the double doors.

**Anna-**

Anna fumed silently as she set next to her fire, slowly roasting her roughly plucked and cleaned wild chicken, as darkness slowly overtook the forest. Her arms and legs were bruised, and everywhere is aching.

During this day, she had reached several embarrassing and frankly awkward moments. Which was listed below:

1. take a dump.

2. clothes ripping.

3. everything soaked.

4. nearly got sprayed by a skunk.

But then, what can she do?

She glanced at her newest sheet of note again, and the instructions on it. _Climb the tree, _it plainly said. And just so far it was still an unreachable goal.

Don't think to much. As Kristoff always said: Just do as you were told and you would be fine!

Probably.


	8. Sound the alarm!

Elsa stood in her room, already in her bedclothes and ready for sleep, yet she had something to to be done. Slowly, she drew with her fingers in the air, and a Sigil took shape, floating and glinting in the icy light. When the Sigil was finished, it flashed blue and white.

Elsa then grasped at the shape in the middle:a sword, which was once just a snowy outline solidified into cold, hard ice. Without a thought, she pulled it out of the runic circle that surrounded it, causing them to flutter out.

She looked at her sword for a moment, inspecting the blade. Its sharp and functional, balanced and not at all too heavy. For someone with the muscle size o Elsa, it should be hard for her to even lift the sword. But then since the sword was made of ice, Elsa had since known that she could will the sword to follow her mind, performing parries and strikes that she normally would never achieve.

For the last few days, she had been using her magic so often, practicing and evolving it, that she can't help but to think of what exactly she could do with her powers.

Her mind drifting offtrack, she thought about her powers to make living snowmen. It was a somewhat freaky yet one-of-a-kind power that she hadn't test out yet. Now, filled with an unexplainable urge to try, she decided to succumb to it.

She willed a snow pile to form at her feet, swiftly building up to the size of a human being. Then, before anyone could register, it _was _a human, albeit with a face without features, without consciousness, just simply a puppet under Elsa's will.

Fascinated, she willed her figures to start moving. It was a strange experience, to be able to have control over two bodies, sharing one mind. The figure swirled and danced, jumping around as Elsa willed it two, as if she was doing it herself.

Now, unsatisfied with the plain details it had, she willed it's feature to resemble... Anna? Why not?

From the top of its head, long brown hair sprouted out, curling slightly at its shoulder. Clothes emerged from it like a ship wreak reversed, eyes, nose and other features too floated out. With in seconds, a colourful Snow Anna stood there, unmoving.

Elsa was momently unnerved by how accurate the figure was, down to the slightest dimple everything was the same. Elsa's mind soon stirred up several possible troubles that could happen if the Snow Anna was seen. She then left a white, swirling mark on Snow Anna's neck, symboling its true snowy form, Elsa then evaporated it, not before she stored it with a Sigil. You never know when it might proof useful.

Just a after this, suddenly a small, white bird flew in from nowhere, landing on Elsa's bed, chirping at her anxiously. Elsa paled, alarmed.

Oh no.

The bird was a snow sentry that Elsa made after the last assassination attempt. And now it reported in, meaning the blood had already been spilled.

Elsa was suddenly afraid, fearful. Oh gods. Now what? They are coming for me. Should I fight? Ambush? What to do?

Panic filled her.

Then Elsa suddenly had an idea that was so ingenious yet so ridiculous at the same time.

Sure, why not?

**The Assassin...**

He cursed silently as he wiped his now bloody blade on a guards shirt. Blood had been spilled already, and it hadn't even belong to his target's. Now, walking and and pretending nothing had happened, he walked down the empty halls, the guard that was suppose to patrol it now dead.

The corridors were dimly lit with torches, though his eyes had long since adapted to the darkness. He had prepared for this, with several months at least, not to mention all his past kill accounts, yet he still felt jittery. _Well, after all, non of them are magical queens, _he thought humorlessly to himself.

Approaching the Queen's bedroom, he swiftly an through every plan and backup plans he made. He took pains to make sure his guard's garment was not creased or showed any signs of violence. He calmed his breath, and knocked on the door.

"Come in!" a voice from inside rang out.

He rushed in and feigned shock and urgency, "My Queen! Are you alright? I heard a commotion, and I fear it might be-"

"No, of cause not. I perfectly alright, I assure you," the Queen frowned slightly. She was sitting by her desk, writing something in a notebook of sorts. Now she stood up and said, "Though I appreciate your concern. You are dismissed," and she turned her back to him and slowly walked to her bed.

He slowly walked forward her, his right hand resting on his sheathed dagger, "Are you sure is there anything else I might be of service?"

"No, as I said, I appreciate your concern. Now please leave my room."

"I afraid not, my Queen," he said silkily as he silently drew his dagger, now almost directly behind her.

"What do you mean-" the Queen whirled back to face him-

_SHIieeek!_

A sound not unlike paper ripping echoed around the room.

The Queen stumbled backward, he eyes unbelieving as she grasped weakly at the blade that now protruded between her ribs, blood blossoming across the icy fabric like so many crimson roses.

He eyed her disdainfully as she fell to her knees, letting his loose his grip on the dagger, "That I'm afraid that I have to kill you,"

"Wwwhyyy..?" Elsa rasped out weakly, blood spilling out between her lips, her eyes already dead and empty.

"You know perfectly why. Really, I thought that you would know better than letting random people into your own room,

"And oh yeah, I almost forgot to give you my regards from Prince Hans, but let me keep this short: Rot in whatever icy hell you came from, witch!" And he spat on her, cold dying face.


	9. So this actually happened

He rushed along the corridors, itching to get out of Arendelle as soon as possible. His time is short, the dead guards would soon be found and everyone will soon piece two and two together. Better to leave before mass panic erupts.

In the guards-room, amidst his drugged, sleeping former comrades, he swiftly and silently packed all his worldly belongings. Also, he deftly wrote a short letter to his employer, tied it to his raven's leg, let it flew through the windows and disappear into the night, black feathers against dark skies. He noticed a few white rats looking at him, and he angrily shooed them away, lest they wake up everyone with their chattering and creeping sounds.

Now with his bags equipment and a few golden trinkets that he refused to leave without snatching, he was ready to leave. Racing along the empty and darken court yards, only pausing for a look at the slowly lightening skies, he leaped into a fountain, and roughly removed a tile from the bottom, revealing a long, dark tunnel. He jumped inside and placed the tile back on the fountain. Then, through the royal sewers and, foot steps patting on the wet bank,he left the castle

But unknown to him, in his multiple bags, a small family of white rats nested.

Their eyes glinted blue.

**Kristoff-**

He rubbed his eyes and yawned, standing up and stretching from the bed of leaves and twigs he made himself. His eyes fuzzily looked around, his unconscious survival instinct had been taking in everything. Food? Check. Shelter? Check. Bags? Check. Sven? Check. Himself? Aside from a small itch that he can't seem to soothe out, check.

Sven was awake before Kristoff was, and had been steadily munching away at some berries along the road. If he is eating, it meant all is well.

Kristoff glanced at the sky, and by judging the sun's position above the horizon it was just barely nine in the morning.

He went over to a sack by his leaves bed, grabbed a carrot from it and started chewing it raw. Well, breakfast's settled. Oh yeah, one more thing...

He also went behind a convenient bush and relieved himself. _Ohh that felt a _lot _better._

While doing so, he can't help but to wonder what, who and why is he actually going out to some where far, far away. Really, the General hadn't exactly provide much information about this trip. All but 'be polite', 'go to there', 'beware that cliff' and 'this is called learning, not holiday'. Personally, he couldn't see the difference.

Seriously, he hadn't got a clue about this trip.

But then whatever.

He swiftly packed his 'camp', and mounted a bored looking Sven. They trotted back to the road, and continued their trip to middle of nowhere.

**Anna-**

_Is this only the third day? Unbelievable! _Anna thought as she read the note the ranger once again so _cleverly_ hidden without her knowledge. _Climbing trees again?_ Anna groaned.

She looked up at the big mighty tree, the trunk reaching high up, gnarled and completely devoid of branches, and the tree house atop. Still impossible. Probably going to be that way forever.

Well, she will never manage it if she never tried it, right?

Before setting to her task, she glanced at her camp again, making sure nothing's amiss. Last time she didn't do it, she had actually ignored an entire armadillo carrying her bag away. Right now, she could really see the benefits of having to live so high up. Now roaming ground predators... No armadillos... Or skunks either... A good view to see everywhere you want to go...

The list had rapidly multiplied to twenty something, and Anna gave up on trying to remember them.

Oh never mind. She fixed her sights on the tree, the patterns, the indents, places where the vines can be used as footholds. Taking a deep breath, she flung her self as high as possible at the tree, clinging onto it.

Half a meter from the ground.

Jumping on trees is a _really _bad idea! It is terribly impractical! She slammed her elbow onto the unrelenting bark, causing a flash of pain that she almost fell off.

Gritting her teethes and steeling her nerves, she began her ascent. Each grip by each grip, she struggled to climb up. More than once, she had almost slipped off the tree, her fingers and muscles screaming and aching in protest.

After a seemingly endless amount of time, she dimly heard a voice calling up from below, "Well, at least that's some improvement."

_That _voice. That insufferable ranger's voice, as dry and sardonic as ever. So _now _he decided to show up, after leaving her alone in the forest for the entire day, staving and robbed by an armadillo! Without looking down, she yelled back at him,"Well, gee! That's _so_ encouraging."

"It was not meant to be," his voice called back up at her, "But I am glad you took it that way! Also, I would advise you from grabbing that particular hole- oh never mind.

"What hole-" Anna looked back to her hands, one firmly planted in tree hole, "Umm.. why not?" In the hole, she can only feel dry leaves, twigs and things that couldn't possibly get her dirtier than she already is.

"That, would be because of things that lives inside it,"

Upon hearing those words, Anna immediately felt _something_ moving-

And a small, green snake's head poked out of the hole, resting on her hand, unblinking eyes staring up at her.

And it promptly made a lunge for her face.

**_"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"_ **she screamed, and fell backward off the tree, her hands barely holding the snake away from her.

**Elsa-**

Well, once again the country is in uproar. But who could blame them? Two assassinations in three days, and both of them had apparently got very close to success.

Elsa was buried in millions of questions, protocols, decisions. How to track the assassin, find out who employed his service, sending messages to every other Kings and Queens out there, deal with all the panic. Not to mention while doing all the daily court business.

Who knew that being a queen could be that hard? Just being the head of an empire was enough to have multiple prices on your head. Or along with the fact that she is magical or simply she is a lonely Queen without a suitor, successor, heir, or a sister that can sucks at ruling the country.

Right after the snow rats Elsa made had made sure that the assassin is out of the castle, she immediately notified all the guards, all the generals and other important peoples. Plus clearing the fake blood in her room

She deeply regretted that once again another guard had lost his life in her service, that he was powerless to do anything, and was killed just because he happened to be the one patrolling.

The assassin had been quickly identified, proving that he had killed and took the place of a lone man that had signed up for guard duty from the middle of nowhere. Apparently, he had spent several months working into the castle, gaining trust from everyone.

Over the conference table, within the Council curses were thrown at each other, guard-masters at each other's throat, the yelling and arguments go more and more heated by the second. Paper works started flying everywhere, debates turned to senseless swearing, Masters of Coins bellowing at the Master of Intelligence for his inability, the General yelling at the guard-masters for not properly training guards and keeping an eye on them

The only ones that were not acting like total barbarians were Elsa, Kai and Robert, though the first and latter were quickly developing a headache, face pale and angry. Kai, noticing their discomfort and obvious dislike of every one in the Council, had smile and them, gesturing to them leave this business to him.

"No worry my Queen, I can deal with these idiots myself," he said grimly at them, which they had gladly accepted.

Now out of the Conference Chamber, at eight in the morning, the pair had stalked of for breakfast. On the way to the dining hall, they met the original guard-master that had suggested Elsa to take up training. After a brief salute to Elsa, they exchanged a brief, tired and wary smile at each other, knowing full well that if wasn't for him, Elsa would be long dead.

Over the breakfast table, eating simple yet somewhat extravagant honeyed porridge in milk, they finally had a moment to themselves.

"So, now will you tell me what did you actually do?" Robert asked, "How did you fool him?"

"Well, as you know, that night I was suppose to practice 'Freezing' the sword play in my mind, right? Well I got a bit off track, and instead I started making living snow mans."

"...Okay. So, how's that related?"

"So, I made a snow Anna, and she looked the same as the real one! Even skin seemed human! And that is weird enough."

"Wait, so you are- Whoa, don't tell me that you made a snow copy of yourself?"

"Exactly," Elsa smiled slightly, in spite of the grim topic of her near death.

"That actually worked?" Robert gaped at her, amazed.

"Like a charm. And the weirdest thing is, I can totally control the snow replica. Everything. It's even weirder seeing yourself stabbed and bleeding, and actually feeling it, watching from inside a closet!"

"You can... Feel being stabbed?"

"Well, yes. But the thing it's not painful, which is also weird. You can feel it penetrated, yet it does not cause pain. I just can't explain it." Unconsciously, she shivered. That feeling, though not painful but queer and unnatural. Not altogether welcomed.

"Ah well."

"Well?"

"Your highness, I sincerely suggest us to get some sleep," he smiled slightly," I bet I look equally awful, too."

* * *

**Well, I think that I had let you lovely readers chowing about on the cliffy I wrote for you long enough. :D So, as one of the readers predicted, yes, Snow Elsa!**

**Really, the possibility of Elsa is near endless, and surprisingly a lot of other stories I read most of them Elsa doesn't even get to truly use her magic. **

**If you like it, please review and 'follow'. This story would probably go on for a long time. Updates is going to be slow, for I am having quite a bit of trouble with the computer. But what ever! :)**


	10. Warging

It was in the afternoon already, and Kristoff was still walking on the seemingly endless road with his trusty buddy, Sven. The road itself was still exceedingly empty, devoid of any other travellers, all but the natural wildlife that occasionally showed themselves.

Now that the pair had finally left the forest, they found themselves in a plain, crops and fences growing alongside in a meat row. Somewhere further away, houses were built, smoke puffing from their chimneys. Now currently in summer, the crops were still not fully grown, farmers could be seen toiling in the fields, their faces hidden underneath wide-brimmed hats.

Away from the relative shelters of the trees, Kristoff found that it was getting unbearably hot and stuffy in his clothes. Kristoff was born and raised in the North, where snow and frost covers everything, and now that he was away his home into the the west, the warmer places of the country seemed strange and hot to him. Not to mention the humid air.

He had taken off his jacket and his hat, something that he would normally wear wherever he goes, and stored in the pack on Sven's side. Even Sven was huffing from the heat, the heavy hair trapping the heat. Noticing and worrying, Kristoff stopped and gave Sven a trim, cropping the hair short.

Sven was noticeably happier afterward.

The road snaked through the field, curving in there and there. Beside the road grew tomato, bushes that lined the water ways. For a while, Kristoff considered picking one to eat, but thought against it when he noticed the look the faraway farmers were giving him. Then the plants gradually faded into wheat, then into tall rows of corn that obscured everything.

After a long while, Kristoff started hearing voices, loud and quiet, happy or sad. Instinctively Kristoff knew that his trip had finally came to an end. When he emerged from the plants, he found himself atop a small hill, and below him lay a jumble of other smaller hills. Small houses littered here and there, people roaming on the roads that snaked through the small valleys. Further beyond, hills started to turn into mountains, grassy ones that was a stark contrast to the North. The scene seemed so familiar, yet so different to his home, the community of trolls, giving Kristoff a pang of homesickness.

Urging an exited Sven, he whispered, "we are finally here, boy! Let's find the Elder, shall we?

**Anna-**

"Well, are you going to carry on, or just going to sit there?" The ranger asked relentlessly for the hundredth time, pacing around her.

Apparently, Anna chose the latter, as she continued to 'just sit there'. She had't felt this kind of frustration and sadness in a long time, not since the accident of Elsa freezing her and casting her out. In bitter humour, she thought to herself, _Never thought that i would be defeated by a tree, _and she began sobbing into her arms again.

"Anna, your sister had asked be to train you for a reason."

"A reason?" Anna snapped at him, grief turning into unexplainable anger, "You call this 'training'? Leaving me in the dark, no idea how to-"

"Yes," the ranger said, cutting her off," And indeed this is training. Do you know why?"

"Oh please, enlighten me!" Anna replied sarcasticly and bitterly.

"If I have to, then you must have treated everything I told you like discarded clothes. Wore it once, and into the bin without a second thought."

"Just tell me, what do you mean?!"

"At the start of your training course with me, three days ago what did I tell you? What was the point of your training?"

"To make me suffer?"

"To make you independent, Anna! The entire reason your sister asked me to train you is because she worries about you!"

"About what?"

"You are naive! Weak and unsuited for survival! Trusting! Everything that would get you klled! You even let me, a random person to lead you away to a forest without a thought! You don't even know what rangers are, do you? You lack curiosity, never actively trying to know and notice everything! At first you were strong willed, capable of enduring and not too fussy about getting yourself dirty. But then you fell apart! Why?"

Anna fell silent at this, her mind desperately trying to deny and reject this horrible truth, yet in her heart she knew that he was right. Every word he said. She is weak. She got no idea of anything around the world. She is spoiled and always tried to do everything her way. And failing to hold back, stream of tears started to seep through her eye lids, as she finally accept it.

Softly and in a gentler tone, the ranger said, "Well, we should do something about it, shouldn't we?"

**Elsa-**

After an eternality of paper work, questions and political decisions, the uproar of the attempted assassination finally calmed down, at least somewhat.

In her mind, seeing from the eyes of the rats in the assassin's bag, she saw that they were on a ship, heaving and shaking from the waves. Commanding one rat, she crept from the bag, unseen out into the hold of the ship, cannons and storage. Using the agility of a rat, she climbed the wall and onto the deck, amidst bare-backed sailors working. Ignoring them, she made a bee-line for the captain's cabin.

Crawling from beneath the door, she emerged into a spacious room, dominated by a larger-than-life table, book shelves and a bed... Where the assassin laid snoring upon it. Resisting the urge to try and kill him right now, she pulled away. There is no need to kill him. When he talked with Hans and that he knew that she is still alive, the assassin would be in deep enough trouble.

She climbed onto the table, revealing that it was covered in charts, assorted random books and other sailing equipments. Looking at the map, the lines that covered it, she knew that indeed, they were heading south, but not the 'Southern Isles'. The lines curved around it, staying clear of the isles. Curious, but understandable. Hans wouldn't be welcomed home, wouldn't he? Judging by the map, they would have already passed the Southern Isles, and strangely, the line lead off the map it self. And that left an important question, where is the ship really sailing to?

Leaving the room, (not before she urged the rat to topple an ink well over the map) she headed for the fore mast, scaling up in seconds. On the top of the ship, perched on the flag-holder, she noticed that the flag was devoid of any sigils. Is this ship a pirate vessel? Could be.

From as far as she could see, no land or other ships are in sight, all but the heaving waves. Deciding that she had spent too long in her... 'Warging', she quickly commanded the rat to stand post, and to notify her of any queries.

* * *

Elsa opened her eyes, blinking a few times against the light. She was sitting in the training hall, on a chair. The hall was quite empty, and the only other thing or person here is Robert.

"Did it work?" he asked her eagerly.

"Fabulously." She replied, and immediately tried to stand up, but ended up stumbling, nauseous.

Robert held her back as to keep her from falling, and lowered her back to the chair, "Shh, rest for a while. Warging always does this to first timers. Nauseous, spasming, vomiting, hallucination and such. Truthfully, you got of better than most people I knew."

Listening to his advise, she sat still for a couple of minutes, calming her mind and stomach. After a while, she finally felt good enough for conversation, "It worked, quire well. First of all, all I know is that it is Hans, not the Southern Isles. Second, Hans had apparently broken out of prison, and have plenty of followers already, enough to hire an assassin."

Robert listened without an word, his mind processing the implications. Finally, he spoke, "Grave news indeed. I suggest you to send letter the Southern Isles. They would have to be responsible for this."

"Ah... Fair enough, I will send them a letter tonight," Elsa said, rubbing her neck.

"Once again, get some sleep, Elsa. You look terrible."

She could only smile weakly back.


	11. Three ways

"Why are you here?" The Village Elder scowled at Kristoff, who squirmed uncomfortably as he sat crossed legged on the dirt floor. The village elder's house was a small, shabby hut. The walls are made of tough, dried mud. There are no windows, so the house was dark and stuffy. The roof was arched and beams were low hung. The reason Kristoff was squirming was not because of the environment, no, he was perfectly used to places covered in dirt, dust and crawlies.

The reason he was squirming was because of the Village Elder. He was a long-bearded old man, complete with even shaggier clothes and a crooked nose. In his hand, he held a staff, which he leaned on. Even though he was quite thin, he looked like he knew how to properly use the staff. And he seemed to be perfectly unhappy and scowling.

"Mister, I am here to learn-"

"Oh drop that lie would you? You stuffy officials coming to take _our _land, take _our _food, take _our _boys to slavery!-"

"Whoa whoa there, old man. What do you mean by taking _your _lands and-"

"Ohhh! Acting dumb are you? Pretending you've done nothing? All you officials and beasts-"

"Whoa who said I am an official?"

"Then what are you? With all these fancy linen clothes?"

"Umm... Actually I am Kristoff, Prince Regent of Arendelle."

For a moment, the Village Elder's eyes bulged so much, Kristoff was afraid that it might pop out of their sockets. After a few smoldering moments, he finally spoke, quietly, "Get out."

"I'm sorry if I offend-"

"GET OUT!" he yelled at him, brandishing his staff.

Kristoff scrambled out of his sitting position, and bolted for the door. Behind him, the Village Elder kept on waving his staff threateningly, until Kristoff left the house, in which he slammed the door with a resonating crash.

Outside the hut, Sven gave Kristoff an raised eyebrow, in which he gave a shrug back, dusting his rubbed his cheek and started thinking. Something, or someone was seriously making this man angry. He said that some 'officials' were coming to take their land, their goods and stuff. What for? Who did?

With all his natural instincts, he could feel something fishy going on here.

**Anna-**

The west was always the wetter part of the country, especially in summer. Like at this time, it was a constant downpour. In the rain, most of the animals had fled for cover. Save two. The taller one of the pair spoke:

"That, girl, is a mess."

Anna frowned slightly, inspecting the small trap she made, and the one the ranger showed her. Sure, hers a bit off, the twigs a bit too long, the string not as taut as his... But for a second try, it's already a remarkable improvement to her first.

"Whats wrong with it?"

"Everything! In order to be effective, it must be perfect!"

"Oh come on! This is only my second go at this."

"Girl, tell me, what are the odds of you catching anything with that?"

Anna kept her mouth closed for a few agonising moments. After a while, noticing the oblivious endless patience, she finally said quietly, "Not probable."

"Oh, excuse me?" The ranger exclaimed, acting dumb, "What did you say again?"

Anna gritted her teethes, and balled her fists tightly, reminding herself to keep her temper in check. Now that she was sure that her breathing was level, she said in a clear voice, "Not probable."

"Ahh! So that's what you said. Well, at least you know that a shabby trap won't get you anything."

"If I may, how on earth can you expect me to be able to make it perfectly on my second try!" Anna asked, coldly.

"I didn't."

"Then-"

"Girl, we got all the time in the world. That is why I am here to teach you how to do things properly.

Anna sighed, her defiant heart finally giving up on this argument, she went over to her trap and started taking it apart.

**Robert-**

He leaned from his chair in the empty dining hall, absorbed in a book he was reading. He had got the book from Kai, after several polite inquires. The steward was clearly not pleased with the prospect of lending the royal books to anyone else. But under Robert's insistence, he finally buckled, and grudgingly handed one of the old, ancient books that he favors.

Now that Elsa was off resting, Robert finally had sometime to himself. He found that, with too little time, you would crave for more. But with too much, one would get bored quickly. For a while he considered giving the surrounding town a tour, but in the end he smothered the idea when he noticed the gigantic rain cloud foatin from the west, afar. So at the end, he decided to settle down for a while and do some reading. It had been a while since he read anything of interest, and for him it was quite necessary to keep reading to stop his word skills from going rusty.

The book was quite interesting. It got a story line, adventurous and romantic. Yet it was also deeply philological, asking questions and giving revelations that would make even the wisest man think for a while.

He was in the middle of it when a courier boy came in, saying that there was a woman from the town requesting for him urgently. Robert looked up from his book and frowned slightly. He wondered what this might be for. For all he know, he hadn't exactly met any women from anywhere in Arendelle all but the maids, the Queen and Princess and the Chef.

After memorising the page on the book and putting it in his satchel, putting on a coat, he left the room and headed for the gates, right after the courier boy.

Outside the gates, the woman had apparently been prowling for ages. As soon as she saw Robert coming out, she had pounced on him like a cat on a bird, causing the nearby guards to tense and Robert himself staggering back.

At first Robert thought that the women was demented, but then when he saw that she was crying he knew better. After finally getting the woman from dragging him, he said to her in soothing tones, "Shh... Tell me what's wrong... Calm down."

The woman cried back at him, "Help me, my son was dying!"

"Lead the way!" He gestured at her, who promptly ran off with him following close behind.

On the way through the town, he noticed the roads were all empty, and he puzzled upon it.

Then he found out where all the people are - the town square. They were all crowded together, trying too look at something in the centre, whispering and mumbling. Muscling his way through along with the woman, finally he got to the centre.

It was a boy, lying unmoving on the ground. Couldn't be any older than ten. And there was a hideous, bloody wound on his back, running straight from the top of his spine to his hims, though the mutilated flesh he could see the back of his ribs. And miraculously, he was still breathing.

Immediately, he went forth and inspected the wound without thinking, pressing his hands to his back whispering words of powers. The wound soon started to glow, the startled crowd staggering back from the sun-like light.

And like as if time had briefly rewinded, an hourglass turned over, the wound started to heal. Pus and dirt leaked their way out and melt away as new flesh appear beneath them, pushing them out. In a minute, it was as if nothing had happen, all but a sleeping boy with a ripped shirt.

A stunned silence followed, as the crowd tried to register what happened. The woman when forth and carried away the child, and vanished among the people.

Finally, after a seemingly hours, Robert finally spoke, "What happened to him?"

After even more silence, young man spoke up, "It was a bear, sir."

"How do you know?"

"We saw him chasing Timmon straight from the edge of the forest," another said.

"A right devil it was, big as a house," a butcher said, "fled when we hollered at it."

Robert considered for a moment, and walked into the forest to the north. The crowd looked at him go in silence, as the rain finally started to fall.

**Time skip a bit-**

**Kristoff-**

After snooping a while, doling out all his country-side charms, he finally got the tight-lipped inn-keeper to spill the beans. It turned out that some stuff officials had turned up some weeks ago, demanding a ridiculous amount of tax on them, that would leave them all poor and starving. Their lot even said it was the Queens's order and even got a seal to show for it.

Upon hearing this, Kristoff frowned. Kristoff had known Elsa well enough that she would never do anything like that, robbing people of their rightful riches. After even more charms, he got the inn-keeper to tell him where the officials were living.

Which happened to be inside this very inn.

After checking that they were gone, probably banging on the Village Elder's door again, Kristoff snuck into their room.

He rampaged through every briefcase, but was always careful to put everything exactly where it was. And he noticed something very strange. Their documents, were all frayed and the writing was barely discernible, and even so it was full of gibberish. The 'Seal', was a wax flower. And it seemed to be hand made by themselves.

After all these evidence, Kristoff had reached an explanation - these man are not officials, but are cons pretending to be one, robbing oblivious villages that was unfamiliar with the royal customs.

Kristoff deftly left the room, smouldering. These man are going to have a conversation with him.

**Anna-**

As was everything, no one masters anything without failure. Now huddling beneath a shelter the ranger made, they were trying to tolerate each other.

True, Anna had made a decent trap, but pity that the rain drove off every small animal. Just... Pity.

As the ranger was saying. " Tomorrow, you are going to learn how to use weapons."

"Weapons?" Anna asked with surprise, but immediately felt foolish for asking.

"Yes, weapons. How else are you going to hunt for food and protect yourself?"

"Okay."

"And also, tomorrow to clean up by the river. It's time for you to wear proper ranger clothes instead of... That."

Anna had the decency to be embarrassed. Her current clothes were torn and ripped, all soggy. And there goes the problem of washing herself. She dare not to ask about that, yet she wanted to.

The ranger noticed her troubling expressions and chuckled, "Oh don't you worry. I'm not going to peak. You got nothing I hadn't seen before."

Anna's face went another notch redder.


	12. Bears

Even though it was midsummer, the forrest of the north was still frosty, a stark contrast to everywhere in the country. Robert was born and raised in plaines, hundreds up hundreds of miles of grassland and hills, trees were scarce, and the heat was muderous.

When he left his homeland, recruited to the Kinghts of the Cross, he had been travelling aboard ever since. He was very young back then, not more than six. A group of Knights had found him in his village, all the houses now ashes, a lone survivor of a bandit raid.

The Knights took pity on him, and valued his gift and will to survive. With the knights, he had learned the arts of battle, codes of honor, words and parchment. On their constant travels to Purge all evil across the land, they had stumbled upon many people, odd and new. Frankly, those were the only memories Robert have. No matter how hard he tried, he can never remember what his life was like before.

He often wondered what his real parents were like. Would they be proud of him? What he had become? A lowly farmer boy to a Holy Paladin, Tweleve Purge, a Comandant Brother. What might he be, if those bandits never existed? He realised that he would nevertheless satisfied with the boring life of a farmer, and he counted his blessings yet with a tinge of guilt and sadness, thinking of all the lives lost in his homeland.

He had only discovered his healing magic later in his life, and it was only found when one of his comrades took a mortal blow in an ill-fated battle.. As time seemed to run backwards, light spilling out from the closing wound, his brothers in arms had took this for a sign from God, instantly rebuffing the enemy with renewed vigor.

Back at the Citadel of the Cross, the monks had taught him 'magic', how to properly use it for the greater good. And only since then, he had raised from a lowly captain to the bane of all evil.

He was often sent to front-line battles, to his foes he resembled a holy embodiment of God, shining in heavenly flames, delivering justice with grace unmatched, a one-man army. But in truth, he was also but a mortal, still young in his years, not wise, vulnerable to sadnes and happiness. Sometimes, he grew immensely tired of all these bloodshed, but yet he knew that his place in life was here, a beacon of light in a world of darkness and strife.

And when he received and order to travel to Arendelle, a young-ish country of no great shakes, he was deeply surprised that his mission was to offer mentorship to the young magical Queen. Still, he never gave it a second thought, for it meant a pause between constant battle of life and death.

To only to be back in battle, Purging once more, all but in name an places, scouring any harm that might come to its people.

Like now, creating through the icy forest, tracking down a huge killer bear through frozen trees and twigs. Well, tracking was the easy part. The huge behemoth had not intention of concealing at all, leaving big footprints on the brittle ground. After all, when you are the king of the forest, who would anyone dare to even go near you? Much less attack you.

The forest was eerily quiet. All the wild life's sound muffled, or gone. Robert theorise that it was because he was near the bear, all nearby wildlife had the sense to make no noise.

Robert had somewhat regretted this decision. He was armed only with a sword, yet he was out there hunting a bear unlone. He wore almost no armor, save a leather jerkin. His magic was near depleted, spent on healing the boy. He realise that this magic was new, that he had never been able to heal anyone before now. Desperation call for strange innovations. For a moment, he wished to turn back and rearm himself...

And that thought evaporated when he spied from he corner of his eye a huge, lumbering shape slowly approaching.

**Kristoff-**

Back at the Village Elder's hut, eavesdropping outside the door, Kristoff could hear a very heated argument, filled with curse, very inventive insults, denial. Everything you can expect from a villager, not exactly what one would expect from an official. Well, unless he _is _pissed off to the extreme.

But judging from all those insults, he got a perfect reason to be. Though muffled, Kristoff can hear everything trough the thin, inconsistent door.

"For the last time: No!" The Village Elder roared.

"Do you know what would happen to your village if we don't get your tax, you village idiot?" A squeaky voice said.

"Who's calling who idiot now? Under my roof, inside my door, in my village, insulting everyone in your way-"

"This is your last chance, old man. Pay your tax, and no one would be burning your village down," another voice said, albeit deeper and altogether more dangerous.

Upon hearing these words, Kristoff decided that he heard enough. And he barged through the door dramatically, "You would be burning no houses down."

Everyone inside the room froze and stared at him, and Kristoff regretted this move. The two unknown voice he heard came from two man in badly made official clothes, one tall and one short. What he didn't know, there was another man standing by, with a sword in his belt.

The tall conman finally spoke, " Who are you? And how dare you speak to me like that!"

"I speak to you however I want, you filly cons," Kristoff tossed a letter containing the seal to the Village Elder, "You letter is fake, your royal seal is fake, your clothes are fake."

"Liar!" Though paled, the short conman yelled, "Our seal is very much real. And if you know anything, I would advise to runaway!"

"I know a royal seal when I see one," Kristoff said, ignoring the swordsman waving his sword about, and took out a small leather bound book, "Oh! Look at what I got! That's right, your diary!"

This time, both man yelled at the swordsman, "Get him!"

The swords man took a swing with his sword, but Kristoff nimbly hopped out of range, while reading out loud, "_These unsuspecting fools swallowed everything! Can't believe a homemade seal and clothes can get you riches," ducking from another blow, "This village would crumple soon, I can see it."_

The Village Elder stood there, shivering with anger. And he turned his glare on the conman, who was back-paddling out of the hut. With a yell, he raised his staff and proceeded to whack the crap out of them.

**Robert-**

He leaped backward as the bear took a swipe at him, almost grazing him. The bear was albino, its white fur, though streaked grey with dirt and dust, making the bear itself seeming to blend in and shift like the snowy background. Its red eyes gave it a demonic look, complete with its ridiculous size it can pass for a spawn from what ever frozen hell there is.

Robert attempted to stab at it, but the bear simply brushed it aside, it's other paw making a swipe for him. He leaned back quickly, but wasn't fast enough. The bear's claw gashed his shoulder, drawing first blood in their death match.

Robert stumbled back, his wound blazing with pain. And already, the wound was healing. He can see that this is no normal bear. It had this primal, unnatural bloodlust in its eyes. It clearly had experience in battling humans, knowing how to counter swords. Robert realised, that when he thought he was tracking the bear, the bear was hunting him.

Robert knew that if he tried head on battle, he would be ripped to shreds. He need to improvise. But how?

The bear lunged again, a paw arching down at him, a strike capable of tearing his chest apart. Robert side-stepped the strike at the last instant, slashing at its arm. Crimson splattered its fur and the ground, but the bear wasn't fazed. With a grunt of annoyance, it back-hand swiped Robert into a tree, his head slamming against the oak.

Roberts view dissolved into static for a moment, pain streaking through all his body. He struggled to stand up, swaying slightly. The bear lumbered at him, knocking him into the tree again, his sword flying from his grasp. The bear proceed to maul him, ripping through leather and skin. Robert could feel his intestines spilling, his head too dazed to register the pain.

He need to do something...

This can't be the end...

Out of desperation, he summoned the last vestige of magic, enveloping his fist with shining energy, and gave the bear a punch of the century.


	13. Moving

**A teeny bit earlier...**

Elsa slowly opened her eyes and stretched, yawning. Like a slug, she slithered off her bed and covers, her gown in a mess (again), her hair a bird's nest (again too).

Once again, she looked in the mirror, and she looked like she was a vampire that had recently been revived. Her skinny frame with its pale complexion, along with Anna's Morning look, she looked just like dead.

Seriously, for the past few days, she had slept so little, snatching taboo afternoon naps here and there wasn't helping. Extensive magic using (she once had a no-magic-unless-essential policy) and mental exertion over the past few days weren't helping either.

She then realised that she was gawking in front of the mirror like an idiot. She glanced at the window, and saw that the sun was setting, or rising. Really, she wasn't sure she slept for a few hours or an entire day.

She then went to the bath the maids had prepared for her, enjoying the warmth and clearing away her hang-over-like feeling. When she was younger, or to say before she goy control over her magic, she used to freeze any water she touches, unless she forced it not to. She guessed that after her parents was lost at seam she had developed a phobia for water, unconsciously trying to make all water solid. Now, she can finally enjoy the liberty of hot baths.

After changing back into her dresses (not the ice ones, there is absolutely no need to make her to stand out like a sore thumb. Not even more, at any rate), she waltzed out to the dining hall.

Passing a random clock, she saw that it was just six in the afternoon, so she presume that it was the same day but not the next day. While she was on her way to the dining hall, she came across Kai, who promptly joined her.

"Kai, do tell me, that this is the same day."

He smiled slightly, "Well, I am pleased to inform you that yes indeed, you just went to bed hours ago."

Feeling slightly relaxed, she asked, "So, is there any interesting news that I should know?"

"Well, we received a letter from ranger Cairn."

"Oh," slightly surprised, Elsa asked, "Did you read it?"

"No, I hadn't," Kai said, fishing the letter from beneath his steward coat, "I believe, that such letters are for your ears only."

"Well, maybe. If you are wondering, I do not have any secret affairs with foreign princes out there," Elsa grinned, opening the letter, silently reading it.

After awhile, she folded the letter and put it back into its envelope with a smile.

"Well? I trust you find the contents of the letter to your liking. Do tell me, my queen, what had become of our princess?"

"Complaining and cussing like a fishwife."

"Well- excuse me?"

"That was his description."

"Oh well."

"Somehow I had no trouble believing it."

With that, he smiled again. Princess Anna was always the wild one, now that she wasn't in the castle with all their stuffy rules, she must be in paradise. Or hell, according to the 'cussing' part.

Suddenly, he remembered that he had't told her about Sir Robert, "Oh and yes, Sir Robert was out."

"Out?"

"Just not long ago, a woman had requested his help, and he ran out."

"Just like that?" suddenly she was structure with doubt and stopped walking. Sir Robert couldn't be conspiring against her... Is he?

Noticing her expression, he hurriedly said, "Oh no, not like that. The woman's child was injured, and she had begged for his... Talent."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. My informants in the town had described it as, 'The wound sealed itself with a holy glow, like the work of God'. Convincing?"

"Better. But do answer me, where is he_ now?"_

"Guess," Kai smiled, "The boy was injured by a bear."

"A bear? I thought the hunters had driven them out of these parts long ago."

"Yes they did, but this one apparently decided to come back. My informants told me that this one is huge. As big as a hut."

"That must be exaggerating," Elsa said, but all Kai did was to give a tilt of his head, signalling 'could be'. Wait. He answered 'bear' to her question, and Robert wasn't back yet... She then finally connected the dots, and asked in an incredulous tone, "You are saying that he was hunting the bear?"

"Precisely."

"And you let him?!"

"To be fair, my queen, I wasn't there to oppose him! Nor is it my right to stop him!"

Elsa face-palmed herself, shaking her head.

"You worry too much," Kai said, "He was a knight, and he got his magic too. He would be fine."

Still, Elsa was worrying. Why would she be fretting so much? Ignoring her mental question, she asked her own, "He was armed when he left, right?"

"Of cause, no knights go anywhere without their swords."

"And he was armoured?"

Kai smile melted, and said slowly, "No..."

Without a word, Elsa ran off to the gates. Oh no, Robert's magic won't save him. What use was regeneration when you were already depleted and when the attack would kill you in one strike?

**Kristoff-**

"I believe we owe you a great debt, Prince Kristoff."

"I hope so," Kristoff glanced at the bound and gaged con-mens and their swordsman, which was now hanging off the ceiling wrapped in ropes, unconscious.

After a chase, several life and death moments, ridiculous acrobatic moves, he had finally subdued the swordsman. Well, what he meant by subdued meant slamming a convenient metal bell on his helmet, giving him a severe brain tumour. But who cares what happens to these man? They deserved it.

After a discussion, the soldiers had agreed to send a dove to the queen requesting soldiers to take these criminals away. The other one... Well no one would miss him.

"What can we be of services to you? We don't have much..." a farmer waved his hands around helplessly while several others nodded assent.

"Wait," the Village Elder said, "When you first came to me you said that you were seeking to learn. What knowledge is that you were looking for?"

"I was sent here to learn how to wield a weapon," Kristoff said, after thinking awhile.

"If you were looking wield a sword, shoot a bow, boy, you came to the wrong place. The guard house next to your castle might be a better place to look."

"Oh no no no. I'm not looking to wield a sword. I was looking to wield a scythe."

A stunned silence followed, eerily quiet all but the con-man complaining.

"Why on earth would you come here to learn how to wield a scythe, boy?" The Village Elder said quietly.

Kristoff said uncertainly, "well, I do not really know where to look. I was simply told that someone here might be able to teach me..."

"Not that. Why a scythe, boy?"

"Because I... Am used to wielding something that got a heavy blade sticking out of the end of a stick? I am seeking to be able to protect my princess?"

"We can teach you how to use a scythe. But you should know, scythes are tools for farming. Not violence. Also, if you were looking for something close to a pick axe, the correct word would be 'sickle', boy," The Village Elder grunted, while the others smiled and left the hut.

Kristoff sighed in relieve. Yes, he knew that scythes were... Sorry, sickles were farming tools, not violence. He was told about that by multiple persons already, but what can you do about that? "So, am I accepted, then?"

"You are. Follow me, you might want to truly meet the expert."

**Anna-**

She shivered slightly as she put on her clothes, after a washing in the river. She hadn't consider just how filthy she was, at least not until she got a look in the reflection of the river.

She looked like a zombie. Her hair was all tangled up, fused together with grime and filth. Her clothes were so torn and stained, even a begger might reject it. There were prominent bags under her eyes, her arms and legs were cakes in a layer of dirt, along with random leaves icings.

She groaned slightly. Just how did she get into this mess? A crown princess living like a wildling in a forest, with no skills at survival or whatsoever. Right now, she really wanted to give Elsa a threshing.

After putting on her clothes, she clambered back to the hideout. The rain was still pouring, yet perhaps slightly lessened.

The ranger was huddling beneath a leafy shelter that he apparently had just made, stroking a fire. How he managed to burn anything in this weather, or find anything dry enough was a miracle.

Well, at least you can now be sure he wasn't spying on you, ANNA told herself.

She approached the ranger and huddled beneath the shelter. He was grilling something above the fire. With a jolt, she realised that it was a plucked duck. She felt an uncomfortable stirring in her stomach, followed by guilt, horror and disgust. In the castle garden, they got ducks. Innocent, lovely creatures.

Now Anna was staring at them, dead, dripping fat, plucked. The ranger noticed her expression and frowned, "What? You want some?"


	14. Cliffhangers

**Sorry I hadn't updated for quite sometime. I had spent the days lazing around, only occasionally going on fanfiction to write. Instead, I was trying to soothe out all those writing mistakes (as you all know, I** **am terrible with grammar) and trying to proofread the story. It took a while, but at the end, I finished it. This is the second author's note, and I'm wondering if this is actually a good idea to write random things to my readers.**

**So here goes a new chapter, and tada! Enjoy it.**

* * *

All the bear felt was unbelievable pain. Searing pain, burning through its midriff, yet at the same time it was so cold... It knew that it was dying, even if he doesn't, other predators would have easily kill him in its weaken state. In a flash of light and heat and frost, its seemingly helpless prey had somehow wounded it grievously in a single strike. Though the frozen fire itself was gone, the pain remains, burning and blasting a hole through its stomach, where blood sloshed out in icy waves.

The forest was still around it, all the birds and snakes had fell silent, wary of the fallen beast. Snow still continues to fall, though the amount of crimson on the ground refused to be covered. Predators started to home in from afar, entranced by the new, strange smell of blood. Yes, the bear had never bled before.

With all its remaining force, it struggled to stand up. Failing, it fell back on to the ground with a sickening thud. It tried to crawl away, attempting to find relief in the snow, only to find out that it had all melted, while heading back for its den.

Oh no. It refuses to die like this. Oh no. Not like this.

**Elsa-**

After running for the stables, she found out in despair that the horse were gone, taken by the ranger and Anna. Apparently, they hadn't return yet.

So instead, in a spark of ingenuity, Elsa made a snow horse, big, white and powerful, along with its saddle and reins. For a second, Elsa had pondered upon just how useful ice magic is, how practical. Then she soon swiftly forgot the thought as she remembered what her purpose to the stable was.

Through the town she rode, ignoring the gasp of amazement and alarm from the citizens, soldiers and nobles alike. Seeing the queen riding alone through on a white horse with haste wasn't something you see everyday, causing them to wonder wildly what could have caused the queen to be in such a hurry, and going there herself personally.

It somewhat reminded them of her Runaway Incident, and that wasn't a pleasant thought. And when she rode off, out of the town and back into the North Forest, they might as well have a heart attack.

In the distance, she could see a small pillar of smoke rising, as if someone had set a campfire. Or as if lighting struck, wouldn't be surprised, eyeing the heavy clouds that float above.

Not too long ago, just before she went to bed, Robert had asked her to try putting a tracking charm on him, just for the sake of doing some magic and learning. Elsa had countered that her magic is frost, not wild life tracking expert.

Robert replied with a smirk, saying yet again that magic is an open ended subject. If all else fails, she could always send a snow bird to tail him. But instead, thumbed his forhead with her... Thumb, leaving a swirly snow-white mark, though hidden under the hairline.

That, was before she discovered that she was unable to remove it.

For a while, she had panicked, trying to rub it off vigorously, resulting Robert to have an extreme head ache and raw skin. After all that, the white mark was still there.

The second reason Elsa had panicked was because she felt somewhat... Different. She couldn't pinpoint the feeling, yet she knew something changed. The feeling of seeing something in the background suddenly disappearing, but unable to remember what had disappeared. She was afraid that she had somehow permanently damaged herself, or Robert. The feeling of no return always scares her.

It took Robert nearly fifteen minutes to calm her down, and in her panic she almost froze the corridor, "Elsa, stop worrying that much. I'm fine! Chill out! ( Pun time ) Gee yes, I'm perfectly alright. I am not going albino or anything like freezing! Shhhhhh..."

Just right now, Elsa had realised just how lucky they are, one in a million chance of placing a tracking spell on Robert before she went to bed. She wondered if he had somehow predicted the future, but she quickly dismissed the ludicrous idea.

When one revelation happens, others usually follow close behind. Elsa now knew why she had bee so jittery this afternoon, or that in her sleep she had dreamed of a frozen forest. The tracking spell did more than just tracking. It was like a live feed of Roberts condition, horror, causation, fatal moments... She felt it. Like she was dying inside her soul, her heart seemed to be beating slower and heavier, vertigo clouding her mind. Yet it did not affect her real body, still balanced, still thinking, still riding.

And suddenly, that feeling disappeared.

Gods. Don't tell me...

**Kristoff-**

He followed the Village Elder'a hobbling form as they walked through the wheat fields, the plants still growing in the dirt and water. Sven was not allowed to tag along, and was refrained in the stables, complaining loudly with a few choice reindeer phrases.

Kristoff doesn't know what to expect, or to say, who to expect. Judging by the old man's skill with a walking stick and his deceptive haggard look, Kristoff really doesn't know what to make of people anymore.

So, when Kristoff was greeted (relatively) by a scowling (why is everyone angry at him for no reason at all?) farmer, middle aged yet full-whited on the hairs, dressed in baggy rough-spun clothes that failed to hide his absolutely rippling muscles, standing outside a hut that seemed to have miraculously appeared out of nowhere, he had no idea how to proceed.

"...H-hiiiii?"

The farmer scowled, and frankly Kristoff was surprised how he can drag the corners of his lips even lower. The farmer growled, "What's the meaning of this, Elder?"

The Village Elder snorted, "A suitable apprentice."

The farmer narrowed his eyes on Kristoff, who fought to not squirm and shy away under the gaze. Seriously, what's wrong with all these people? They all act like as if he is going to rob and murder them in their beds.

Finally after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, the farmer moved his gaze back to the Village Elder, scowled, "This is not what I asked for. Not this boy, at any rate."

The Village Elder glared straight back into those eyes and said quietly, "We have to talk, inside."

The farmers eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of a second, but it quickly pushed back together into a frown, said, "Get in."

Following the farmer, the Village Elder turned around and said to Kristoff with a scowl, "You, stay outside," before slamming the door in his face. Wow. Polite. And even more scowls too. To doors slams in the face in a single day, by the same person. Very friendly.

From outside the door, Kristoff can hear vague conversations, but since they were whispering and was muffled through the door, it was quite impossible to even catch a single word.

He tried going for the windows, and a flying sack of potatoes almost dislocated his head for him.

Kristoff had smartly stayed clear of the hut since then.

**Anna-**

Ducks.

Why, must it be ducks?

Why, on earth is she eating ducks?

But she is just so hungry... And the smell too alluring...

Well damn.

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**Cliffhangers Cliffhangers Cliffhangerssssssss!**


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